As the global population expands rapidly, the demand for freshwater and potable water is increasing daily at a fast rate. Natural freshwater resources, such as lakes and rivers, however, are diminishing due to destructive human activities and pollution. Furthermore, the amount of rainfall in many areas has been drastically reduced due to various influences (e.g., global warming).
One possible solution to resolve the problem of diminishing natural freshwater resources is to produce freshwater from the oceans. Various desalinization technologies have been developed to produce freshwater from sea water. However, most of these technologies are bulky, energy consuming, and expensive, and therefore, are not generally affordable to many poor countries or individuals.
Water almost always exists in the air in the form of water vapor. In some humid regions, such as regions near oceans, humid air may contain a significant amount of water vapor. Various technologies have been developed to extract water from air. Many such technologies, however, require a condenser for cooling the air in order to extract water from the air. Some technologies use particular solutions to absorb water from air without requiring a condenser, but require a regenerative process (e.g., by heating) to separate the extracted water from the solutions. These prior art technologies are complex, energy consuming, and expensive. Therefore, the prior art technologies may not be affordable to people who have limited access to energy and financial resources, such as people in poor countries. Also, systems built with these prior art technologies may not be portable.
The present disclosure is directed toward improvements in existing technologies for extracting water from air.